Buddhist Karma and Hindu Karma

[Tirisilex 0]

Are the outlooks the same?

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

 

Are the outlooks the same?

I don't know how many folks on this forum are intimately familiar with both Buddhism and Hinduism/Gaudiya Vaishnavism (I am not), but I believe the conceptions are very similar.

 

However, I don't know if Buddhism embraces the Vaishnava conception that, when we are fully-engaged in service in a mood of surrender, Guru/Krishna takes the karma and we accrue none.

[Tirisilex 0]

I'm asking because of this book.. It looks interesting but I think it's Buddhist.

 

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1559392541/ref=s9_asin_title_2/002-3983267-0384069?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=050SYEE99KPF7G8M1ER1&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=291314301&pf_rd_i=507846

[Murali_Mohan_das 0]

Looks like an interesting book. Definitely Buddhist.

 

From the "From the Back Cover" on the page you link to:

 

 

We all want to find happiness and be free from suffering. Happiness comes from positive mental states and actions and suffering from the opposite.

While this statement may be true for one starting out on the path of Bhakti, it is said that, in the more advanced stages, the Vaishnava is not acting out of consideration for their own happiness or distress. Rather, in their mood of devotion, they want to please the Lord, even if doing so involves some discomfort to themselves. Ultimately the Vaishnava wishes to transcend even mundane happiness for the true happiness of dedication.

 

I asked my friend Phil, who has spent a lot of time with both the Gaudiya Vaishnavas and some Buddhist groups and this is what he had to say (though he didn't have a lot of time):

 

 

There’s an endless debate waiting to happen. In some instances such as Pure Land Buddhism there is some similarity to one who has full faith having his karma removed by another. The concepts are of course almost exactly the same although I think the Hindu is more apt to see karma as fate and the Buddhist to see it as action taken. The slight difference is that a Buddhist probably considers karma more malleable by the individual alone.

 

I'm asking because of this book.. It looks interesting but I think it's Buddhist.

 

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1559392541/ref=s9_asin_title_2/002-3983267-0384069?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=050SYEE99KPF7G8M1ER1&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=291314301&pf_rd_i=507846

[muralidhar_das 0]

I just came back from the city, I went to see the Dalai Lama speak in a park.

 

It was raining and there were several thousand people standing in the rain listening.

 

He was asked, "What is the meaning of life".

 

The Dalai Lama answered, "I don't know".

 

He went on to say that people are full of hope and desire to find things in this world but in this life you don't find real joy. Joy comes through liberation from this life of material existence.

 

One thing I was amazed to realize today is that Buddhism is acceptable to all kinds of ordinary people in Australia.

 

Both the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition Labor party met with the Dalai Lama. Football stars, famous actors and musicians, the CEO of Virgin airlines in Australia, all of these met with the Dalai Lama.

 

I guess Buddha's religion is regarded as a real spiritual tradition. I wish our faith was regarded with that kind of respect. Unfortunately, it is not.

[krsna 3]

 

 

I guess Buddha's religion is regarded as a real spiritual tradition. I wish our faith was regarded with that kind of respect. Unfortunately, it is not.

 

WHY NOT?

 

Is it bad PR?

 

We are not pro-active enough?

 

We are not out to please people?

Why can't we present KRSNA Conciousness in real-time for all the people 'on the ground' practically so that they can see and experience KRSNA for themselves?

 

Why are we still seen as a brain-washing cult?

[muralidhar_das 0]

 

WHY NOT?

 

Is it bad PR?

 

Yes, without a doubt.

 

 

 

 

Why are we still seen as a brain-washing cult?

 

 

In my experience this is exactly how people think of the Krishna-bhaktas.

[theist 1]

 

One thing I was amazed to realize today is that Buddhism is acceptable to all kinds of ordinary people in Australia.

 

Both the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition Labor party met with the Dalai Lama. Football stars, famous actors and musicians, the CEO of Virgin airlines in Australia, all of these met with the Dalai Lama.

 

I guess Buddha's religion is regarded as a real spiritual tradition. I wish our faith was regarded with that kind of respect. Unfortunately, it is not.

 

The nature of Bhuddhism makes it attractive to people in general. For one thing the vast majority of people have no clue what Buddhists believe or what the goal of Buddhism is. It is seen as a cool exotic eastern religion that one can identify with and with the Dalai Lama who is a kindly man who talks about peace with an air of wisdom about him.

 

How many would "be Buddhists" if they knew it meant trying to give up all desires. The Hollywood crowd where he is so popular are anything but about giving up material desires. I saw the Dalai Lama and Bill Clinton (when he was president) come out of a famous meat eaters resteraunt here in Berkeley. Is Bill Clinton a Buddhist or is the Dalai Lama just "in" to be seen with?

 

Another point is that when one does look a little deeper into the philosophy there is not the teaching that we are eternal subordinate servants of the Supreme Person and not the prime enjoyer which is the very idea that we rebeled againist causing our trip into the material world. Krsna conscious is all anout tackling that truth head on within ourselves.

 

An even deeper look into Buddhism and one sees they want to kill any conception of the self. This is appealing to the materially exhausted and frustrated who come to see nothing but suffering in life and want to end it once and for all. Mukti bhukti.

 

These facts don't excuse the poor way we have presented Krsna consciousness in the west. Good things have been done also but the scamkirtaners made a deep impression of Krsna consciousness being a cheater religion just out for the buck and it's members mindless cultists. The heavy emphasis on getting money is something people expect from greedy Capitalist types but not from those claiming God consciousness.